JAIPUR: A day after a 65-year-old woman travelling from Mumbai to Jaipur tested Covid positive and died, authorities of Jaipur division of North Western Railway (NWR) sent seven of its staff and a coolie to quarantine on Saturday.NWR has also given a list of 75 passengers who travelled up to Jaipur in S-2 coach of Mumbai-Jaipur superfast with the woman. Also, NWR has got additional PPE kits and face shields to ensure extra precaution while attending to such passengers.According to authorities, the woman came to Jaipur on Thursday. “While she alighted...more...

the train, she was restless and was unable to walk properly. Our staff attended to her and called doctors and medical staff. However, the woman was declared dead within minutes,” said a senior officer of Jaipur division of NWR.However, authorities were in panic when told by the state health authorities on Friday that the woman tested positive.“As part of contact tracing, we submitted a list of 75 passengers out of which three travelled up to Durgapura station and 73 up to Jaipur main station. Also, we have informed that in the S-2 coach in which the woman travelled there were 83 passengers of whom eight travelled up to Kota or some station before Kota and 75 came to Jaipur,” Abhay Sharma, chief public relations officer, NWR, told STOI on Saturday.He added eight railway staff, including the train ticket examiner, railway doctor who attended the woman and others, were sent to quarantine. “Also a coolie, who first attended to the woman, was sent to quarantine,” he added.On the other hand, NWR has appealed to the passéngers and reiterated the railway’s advisory for senior citizens and children travelling in trains.The incident also exposed the lofty claims of Indian railways on passenger screening as the woman boarded the train from Mumbai Central. “As part of our advisory, we only disallow the travel of symptomatic patients. The woman was asymptomatic,” said an officer with western railways, Mumbai.NWR adds extra PPE kitsIn order to ensure safety of the railway staff, including station superintendent, station director and others, NWR has got extra PPE kits and face shields for its staff working at various railway stations. “In order to attend to any passenger with symptoms, we need to be extra careful,” said an officer.

A new Zero-based Time Table is in the works with much lower number of trains and stoppages. In a major paradigm shift, Indian Railways is exploring a new time table – Zero-Based -- with theaim to reduce the number of trains and stoppages post-COVID.As the COVID-19 pandemic wreaks havoc across the globe by aecting life and disintegrating economic activities, the state-run...more...

transporter has been equally hit with low passenger and freight business. India had the sixth largest number of COVID-19 cases – over 2 lakh -- till Saturday morning.With the Centre announcing a graded phasing out of the countrywide lockdown, and the economysputtering back to life, Indian Railways is also gearing up to return to normality.However, the passengerbusiness will not be the same again as a multi-disciplinary team involving senior railway ocials and theOperation Research wing of IIT Mumbai is working out details to devise a Zero-Based Time Table on the rail network.2020 Railways May Drop Trains with Low Occupancy, Reduce Stoppages Post-"There is a need to attempt an ecient time table in the new paradigm post-COVID," a Railway directiveissued to the directorate concerned stated. According to the plan under consideration, trains having less than 50% and stations that have very low ticket sales are likely to be dropped in the Zero-Based Time Table.A Zero-Based Time Table means a complete new time table. Every year the Railways has new time table, which is mostly a repetition of the previous one with some changes here and there, plus accommodating of new trains and stoppages.In the new time table, many trains and stoppages, found to be commercially not viable, are expected to be eliminated. The Railways maintain that dropping ‘unviable’ trains and stoppages would increase operational efficiency.There were about 2,200 Mail/Express trains besides Rajdhani, Duronto, Shatabdi and Vande Bharat services operational before the COVID-19 outbreak. Currently, about 200 mail/express and 30 AC trains are running as special trains besides Shramik Specials during the lockdown. After COVID crisis, regular train services will not be the same as before, according to sources close to the development. They said this would require a need-based fresh time table with less number of trains and stoppages.Incidentally, the letter addressed to the directorate concerned mentions "Review stoppages", and the "needfor identifying passenger and freight corridors and maintenance corridor.There are many trains that have low occupancy rates as well as stations where passenger footfalls are negligible. For instance, if a train running on a particular route stops at 10 stations and some of these do not have adequate passengers, then those stoppages are likely to be dropped.Similarly if a particular train has a low occupancy rate or the rate of return is less than the minimum requirement, then it will be discontinued in the new time table.However, this would be tough to implement, as cancelling of train services and eliminating stoppages are sure to face stiff political opposition, sources said.While many stoppages and train services are operational due to the political considerations as also social obligation, the Railways has been constantly avoiding this issue despite facing mounting losses, as it fears a political backlash.Now, with coronavirus scare reigning supreme, the public transporter seems to have found an opportunity to put in place a process to chart out a practical course of action.Hence, a massive exercise is on to review train occupancy and stoppages to nalise the new time table.ways May Drop Trains with Low Occupancy, Though the earlier plan was to complete the exercise before June 30 so that a fresh time table is in force from July, there are possibilities of delay.Since the Railway passenger business is incurring heavy losses and is cross-subsidised from freight profit the pruning exercise is expected to be carried out to cater to market forces.Amid the lockdown, Railway freight earnings saw a shortfall of Rs 8,283 crore compared with the corresponding period last year. Except foodgrain, other goods carried were much lower than the last year.Also, as there are no regular passenger services right now, barring Shramik and AC specials in April and May, passenger revenue is also down by around Rs 9,000 crore.Meanwhile, the public transporter is in the process of reviving some services in phases. While freight and parcel services are on, more passenger-carrying trains are expected to be run across the country as special trains, besides Shramik Specials.However, one may have to wait a bit longer for regular train services, which are not likely to resume before September-October

Railway authorities have been asked to send the those in quarantine who traveled with the womanJaipur: A 65-year-old woman has tested positive for COVID-19 after she died at the Jaipur railway station while de-boarding a train, officials said on Saturday. Railway officials said that as soon as the woman reached the railway station on Friday, she fell unconscious and was declared dead. The body was sent to a hospital where her samples were taken and she was found COVID-19 positive. Ninety-one passengers travelled in the same coach of Mumbai-Jaipur Express in which the woman travelled. Later, all the co-passengers were immediately quarantined in Jaipur as a precautionary measure.Railway authorities have been asked to send the other passengers in quarantine who traveled with the woman, Jaipur District Collector Dr Jogaram said. Since the woman was not carrying any phone or identification, the Additional District Magistrate ordered an inquiry if she was screened at the...more...

Mumbai railway station.The number of caess due to COVID-19 rose to 219 in Rajasthan on Saturday, with one fresh fatality and the number of cases climbed to 10,128 as 44 more people tested positive for the disease, officials said.

The gradual restoration of normalcy in the city has brought new rays of hopes for the Kolkata Metro Rail authorities who are preparing for the much awaited inspection of Phoolbagan stretch by the commissioner of railway safety any time this month from the next week onwards.The Phoolbagan extension has earlier undergone intense preparations in the month of February for inspection by the Commisioner of Railway Safety (CRS). However, as the city is limping back to its regular routine and hopes of resumption of passenger services are high, the metro authorities are gearing up for the inspection which is expected to take place this month.“If...more...

everything goes according to the plan and the nod from the CRS is received, the inauguration could be expected in the month of August,” said an official of the city’s metro.“If the clearance is received fast, two months’ time will be further required for commencement of the commercial services,” added the official.Along with the preparations for the inspection, the metro railway is also set for restarting commercial runs as soon as it gets a go-ahead from the central authorities. According to sources, once the services resume, passengers will be encouraged to use smart cards. Passengers’ influx will also be controlled right at the entrance gates of Kolkata’s metro stations.Meanwhile, the excavation of tunnel of the Noapara – Airport metro extension project has also been started. Base concrete of grade M-20 for the bottom slab of the tunnel has been completed recently while casting of the top slab is also under progress. According to the metro railway officials, the implementing agency of the project has completed the casting of five numbers of PSC 1 girder of 20-22 metre span during the lockdown period.

NEW DELHI: The railways has sent a missive to its zones to ensure 100 per cent punctuality in the running of 230 special trains, which is less than two per cent of the 13,000 trains that normally run on the railway network.Sources said Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav has sent a message to all general managers and divisional railway managers to ensure that the 15 pairs of Rajdhani special trains and 100 pairs of passenger trains maintain their schedule without any delays.He has asked the zonal heads to monitor the...more...

punctuality of these trains, adding the number of trains being run on the network is currently small so the punctuality has to be “100 per cent”.The sources said the national transporter, which has been criticised over delays in running these trains, wants to be extra vigilant in the operations of these trains.Yadav has also asked the seven railway zones - the East Coast Railway, South East Central Railway, East Central Railway, Central Railway, West Central Railway, North Central Railway and the Northern Railway - to identify the issues causing punctuality loss and take remedial measures.These are the zones in which most of the loading of freight trains take place. Most of the goods trains also run in these zones.The East Coast Railway (ECoR) loaded 200.85 MT of freight in 2019-2020, the most among the railway zones, followed by South Eastern Railway (SER) which carried 171.11 MT, South East Central Railway (SECR) 169 MT and East Central Railway (ECR) carried 148 MT of freight during the 2019-20 financial year.The railways has been facing major issues with the running of the Shramik Special trains.According to the sources, 50 per cent of these trains were running two hours behind schedule, right at the origin stations, because of the protocols involved. They said the protocol prescribed for coronavirus like thermal screening of every passenger to ensure that only asymptomatic persons board the trains, maintaining social distancing, ensuring Aarogya Setu mobile application is downloaded on their phones -- is taking a lot of time at the originating stations. The railways had recently appealed to all passengers to come to the station 90 minutes in advance and not earlier than that to avoid crowding at the premises.

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